


The Syndicate

by valix33



Category: Big Time Rush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-02 02:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2796344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valix33/pseuds/valix33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one knew about them, but they knew about everyone. The Syndicate controlled everything, elections, populations, diseases. They couldn't be discovered, for if they were the public would rise up and destroy them. A group of unsuspecting people are drawn into a dangerous mystery of murder, manipulation, and secrecy that goes deeper than they ever would have suspected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Link

It's done.

That was the message that Link sent to his employer via his cell phone. Behind him was the open door to a hotel room, inside the room a fiery blaze was engulfing everything in sight. The body would be burnt beyond recognition, the mask he wore would prevent anyone from tying him to the crime.

Link felt no guilt in this murder, it was his job to take care of anyone who got too close to the Syndicate. This one had been a young girl, couldn't have been older than twenty-five, but she had been digging around for information and it cost her.

He was one of only two members of the Syndicate allowed to have any identity, almost all agents were completely bald, wearing black shades, carrying the same pistol and dressed in suits. But he was second in command, he was allowed to keep his hair and instead of shades he wore the emotionless mask that hid his face. J had entrusted him with everything, he did all the dirty work on the surface while his boss stayed underground and handled their secret agenda. Truthfully he was more powerful than J, he got all the information so he knew what was going to happen before it actually did happen. No company should've had this much power, that was why the world couldn't know of their existence.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up, noticing that J had sent him a message. If J couldn't wait to give him an assignment until he got back, that meant that the targets needed to be taken care of immediately.

We have been compromised, our information and secrets stolen from us. Recover the flash drive and bring me the thieves, I want to deal with them myself. These targets are going to be harder to erase, make it happen.

The flash drive had been stolen, that was the worst thing that could ever happen to their company. It had all their secrets, everything they'd done and influenced since the creation of their company. If that was leaked, they'd be finished, the government would eliminate them all before the plan had been put into action. He wondered who could have infiltrated the company, hundreds had tried but none had ever succeeded before.

He'd never been shocked in his twenty years of serving for the Syndicate, but he was genuinely surprised at who he'd been tasked with kidnapping. Big Time Rush, the people who'd broken into the company and stolen their most valuable resource were a bunch of kids? It didn't matter, he'd bring them in and J would likely make them suffer for stealing from him. The poor kids probably didn't know what they'd done, but it was the price that had to be paid. Link didn't feel compassion any longer, it would only get in the way of what needed to be done.

As he walked away from the burning hotel room, smoke billowing out of the window and frantic residents calling for the fire department, Link started whistling. Another day, another job, that was all it was anymore.


	2. Running Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here the BTR boys get factored into the story. Hope you like it!

Kendall would never admit it, not to Katie, James, Logan, and definitely not to Carlos, but he was scared. It was Monday morning when he saw the report on the news, a hotel room had been set on fire and the occupant had burned alive. They were blaming it on faulty wiring, the body would be too burnt to identity the broken neck. Only he knew that Link had done it, Link had murdered her and covered it up.

He felt so many things at the same time, fear, anxiety, sadness, and anger. The others had to know, it was his fault that they'd been dragged into this. He hadn't known that it would go this far, when he'd been emailed he'd thought that it would just be one little mission and then he would be done. But the Syndicate didn't forget, he'd been sloppy and they'd identified his face.

"What are you watching?" The voice made him jump, his breath stopped for but a second and he turned around. But it was only Carlos, he relaxed and tried to cover up his little panic attack.

"Something about a hotel room, it's not important," he dismissed. Carlos shrugged and sat down next to him, the innocent boy believed everything that came out of Kendall's mouth. They were closest to each other, Kendall made sure that nothing bad happened to Carlos and was always there when his younger friend needed help. Carlos trusted Kendall completely, felt safe around his big brother, and would listen to everything that Kendall told him to do. If anything happened to Carlos because of his stupid mistake, he'd never forgive himself.

His phone beeped and he got up, handing the remote to Carlos and walking away. He heard Carlos turn the channel to a commercial about Carlos and chuckled, no doubt Carlos would be drooling by the end of the commercial. If only he could think about that and not whether or not he was going to die, he used to have normal kid things to worry about but that was gone.

Sharon's gone, I'm sure you know by now. They recognized the three of you when you infiltrated the company, they're going to come looking for that flash drive. Find a way to get rid of it and then get out of there. Make sure your family is out of the house tonight, tell Logan and James to start packing up. I'm really sorry Kendall, I never thought you would've been pulled in this far.

Part of him hated Drew for sending him that email in the first place, but realistically he knew that he could have declined. It was his own fault, Drew was just trying to keep him alive at this point. His biggest regret was asking Logan and James for help, he was supposed to be their friend and he'd probably ruined their lives. Right now they were in their shared bedroom, Logan was helping James out with a science project for school. Frankly he was surprised he hadn't heard an explosion coming from the room yet, that was how a lot of Logan's science projects tended to end. Now was as good a time to tell them as any, he had no idea how much time they had left but Drew's text suggested it wasn't a lot.

"Logan, nothing's happening," James complained as Kendall walked in the doorway. They didn't notice him at first, they were too focused on a beaker of liquid in front of them. He saw that two other beakers were to the side, no doubt Logan had mixed them together in the hopes of getting a chemical reaction.

"Give it time James, it'll work," Logan assured. Kendall knocked on the open door to alert them of his presence, both looked at him at the same time.

"You know my mom hates it when you blow up your room," he told Logan mockingly.

"It's not going to blow up," Logan insisted. As he said this, the mixture started bubbling and foamed over the lid of the beaker. It spilled onto Logan's desk and soon dripped onto the floor as well, Logan smacked himself in the forehead.

"Well you were sort of right," Kendall teased. "It didn't blow up."

"What do you want Kendall?" Logan asked irritably, more irritated at himself than at Kendall. Kendall closed the door and walked closer to them, he didn't want Carlos or his family to overhear.

"Guys, Sharon's dead," he stated bluntly. Their eyes widened, Logan started hyperventilating and James had to get his breathing rate back to normal.

"How, when did it even happen?" James inquired.

"Last night, Link set her hotel room on fire, probably snapped her neck first," Kendall explained. He'd never met Link himself, but he knew from Drew that he was the one that always went to eliminate the witnesses. His calling card was always the same, when the victims were examined they all had broken necks.

"Wasn't she the one that told Drew about what was going on?" Logan questioned once he'd calmed down. Sharon had brought Drew into the conspiracy the same way Drew had brought Kendall. Logan and James knew little about Drew, only what Kendall told them, but then again Kendall only knew what Drew told him.

"Look, I got a text from Drew," Kendall continued. "They're coming for us next, they want that flash drive we took."

"We never should have done that," Logan stated, his eyes looked similar to those of a deer before it was hit by a truck. It was always the neurotic Logan who freaked out when things went bad, if not for his friends he probably would've gone crazy by now. Still, it was him who usually figured out how they could solve their problems and his brains had proven useful more than a couple of times.

"Look it's my fault, I never should have asked you guys to come with me," Kendall said apologetically. "Whatever happens, it's on me, I should have done this alone."

"Kendall, we stole your computer and read the email," James reminded him. "Even if you didn't ask us for help we would have come anyway, that's what your friends are for." Kendall remembered exactly what they'd done, Logan had noticed his suspicious behavior following his first contact with Drew and told James. The two of them had snuck into his room and stole his laptop, once they read all the conversations he'd been having they confronted him about it.

"Look, we have to get out of here tonight," he informed them. "Mom's going to a midnight showing of that romance movie and Katie's staying over at a friend's house, so they're not in any danger if we leave before morning."

"What about Carlos?" James asked. Kendall swore, he hadn't been thinking about Carlos. Their littlest friend had nothing to do with this problem, they'd all gone to great lengths to make sure he didn't get involved.

"If they know that we're involved they probably think he's with us," Logan reasoned. "We have to get him out of here before we leave, they'll kill him if they find him."

"Look, I'm going to get him out of here," Kendall assured. "He'll listen to me, they'll be looking at the Palm Woods first so if we get out today we'll have a day's head start on them." It had to be him, Carlos wouldn't leave without Kendall. They'd be gone before Link even got here, he had no idea where they'd go but they sure couldn't stay here any longer. Maybe Drew would know where they could hide, after all Drew had done an excellent job of hiding.

"This isn't fair that Drew doesn't have to run," Logan complained.

"Logan, that's because everyone thinks that Drew is dead," James argued. That was the main reason why Kendall didn't hate Drew, he'd lost more than Kendall had. Link had come for Drew a few years ago, he was believed to be dead by the Syndicate and couldn't come to their aid directly for fear of being discovered.

"We just need to keep it together," he told his friends. "If we stay calm and think this through we can get out of this just fine. Once I take Carlos somewhere safe I'm going to meet back up with you guys, we'll figure out what to do from there."

"Me and Logan will wait until you've left," James said. "There's a beach house on the Pacific Coast that my uncle owns, it's October now so he won't be there until next June. I'll send you directions once you've confirmed that Carlos is safe."

"I have a really bad feeling," Logan confessed. "I just feel like I'm going to end up like all those other people that got in too far. We're going to disappear or something." Kendall put a hand on his genius friend's shoulder, trying to be a source of comfort.

"Logan that's not going to happen," he promised. "I swear to you that nothing bad is going to happen to you." Logan looked into Kendall's eyes and saw that the blonde was being sincere. He nodded, though still not entirely sure, no matter what the three of them were in this together now.

"Okay, we'll see you when we're all safe I guess," he agreed. Kendall nodded and exited their room, standing in the living room and looking around at their apartment. The swirly slide, hanging out at the pool, singing at the studio, all these things about his life he'd come to love were going to be erased at the end of the day. Carlos had finished with the corn dog commercial and was watching a comedy movie, Kendall recognized it from their childhood.

"Hey Kendall," Carlos called, spotting his friend standing there. "You remember this one, it was the first movie the four of us ever saw in the theater and we used to watch it once every month because we liked it so much." Kendall remembered that, another tradition that he would have to forget after today. For now they couldn't start packing, Katie and his mom would notice if they were packing up to go somewhere. For the next few hours all he could do was wait, he might as well watch the movie while he still could.

As Katie was packing to go to the sleepover at her friend's house, she couldn't help but notice that the boys were acting weird. Carlos was his normal happy self, but the other three were mostly quiet for the day. Logan and James cleaned up their own mess from the experiment instead of asking her mom to do it, and none of them argued or tackled each other or anything. They'd never been like this, despite how annoying they sometimes were she liked it when they were fun and unpredictable. Now it was like they'd heard someone died or something, she didn't like it.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" she asked Logan and James after she had finished packing her sleeping bag and pillow. They locked eyes with each other, she was smart enough to know that wasn't a good sign.

"We're fine, just a lot of homework coming back to school that's all," Logan told her, so transparent she could practically see through him.

"Logan, you've never worried about homework," she countered. Instead of looking at her he looked at the floor, unable to come up with any better excuse.

"Well Gustavo has been working us hard at the studio," James offered up. "With our new album about to come out we haven't had much time to focus on school, Logan's grades have gone down to high eighties." That wasn't plausible either, Logan had gone down to high eighties twice in his life and both times he had done nothing the whole day but read through his textbooks, work on homework, and smack himself in the head for not doing better.

"Oh, well I'm sure things will get better soon," she fake assured, she knew they were lying but until she could figure out why she wouldn't get anywhere with them. She'd ask them tomorrow when she got back, hopefully by then they would be back to normal and ready to talk to her.

"Katie honey, are you ready to go?" her mom asked from the front door. The impatience was written on her face, she'd been waiting to see this movie for months and didn't want to waste too much time getting there.

"Yeah Mom, I'll be right there," she called back. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." Both of them gave her a hug, another bad sign because typically James wasn't a hugger and Logan was hugging her a lot tighter than he usually did. It was starting to scare her, but she tried to push it out of her mind and tell herself they would be fine like they always were. Hollywood was a weird place, she'd seen them acting weirder than this, or at least she thought she had.

As she walked out into the hall Carlos wrapped her up in a bear hug and picked her up off the ground, this was the normal for him and she smiled for a brief moment. But Kendall had her worried again, the hug was normal but when he pulled away she could see something in his eyes that seemed like fear. Kendall didn't get afraid, Hawk had kidnapped them and tied them up and that hadn't even scared him.

"Love you baby sister, see you tomorrow," he stated lovingly, his tone was less casual than it should have been. She walked toward the door slowly, looking back at her brothers concernedly before exiting the apartment.

Once both his sister and his mom were gone, Kendall turned his attention to Carlos. His younger brother's face was so innocent and energetic, taking all this away from Carlos was going to crush him. Discreetly he looked at Logan and James, signaling them to start getting ready. It was just reaching five in the evening now, at seven he would leave with Carlos and an hour later Logan and James would be leaving as well.

"Hey Kendall, do you want to play a video game?" Carlos asked sweetly. Kendall wanted to so badly, he'd probably never wanted anything more in his life, but he couldn't.

"Sorry buddy, I can't right now," he replied regretfully. Carlos frowned but didn't get too upset, he went back over to the couch to play a video game by himself. Kendall went back into their room to pack two bags, one for him and one for Carlos.

Two hours left, he felt his stomach churning at the thought of how uncertain the near future seemed. He didn't know where he was going to drive, just away from the Palm Woods and maybe out of California entirely. Maybe he could bring Carlos back to Minnesota, book a plane first thing in the morning and send him off.

He started sorting through his things and picking anything that he deemed important enough, six changes of clothes and his pocket knife were the first things to go into his backpack. There was a picture of him with his mom and his sister on his dresser, he took it out of the frame and stuffed it in the backpack as well. Another picture was on the dresser, it was the four of the boys on their first day of peewee hockey. It was one of the best memories that he had, he never wanted to forget that day. His eyes started to water but he held the tears back, he needed to be strong for himself and Carlos.

What was in his bottom dresser drawer was the most important, he took a peek out the door to make sure Carlos was still occupied before going back to the dresser. The first thing he took out was the stash of money he had, he'd been saving half of the money he'd made since he came to Hollywood just in case of an emergency. It was as good an emergency as any, over ten thousand in hundred dollar bills went into the backpack. The last thing was a Desert Eagle pistol, silver and polished with two extra clips of ammo beside it. He'd bought that without the knowledge of his mom or anyone for that matter, pretending to be twenty-two and putting on a disguise so the shop owner would think he was an adult. Drew had told him how important it was to have a weapon at all times, so he'd bought it and stuffed it away. Some part of him knew that he'd need it eventually, so he loaded up the gun and ammo into his bag. After everything was put inside he zipped it shut and went over to Carlos' dresser to pack a bag for his friend as well.

It was trickier to think of what Carlos would want to keep of his things, he would have to guess and hope he didn't forget anything. As with his own bag he packed six changes of clothes, in addition he put Carlos' helmet inside because he knew its value to Carlos. He'd never looked in Carlos' dresser, but he needed to do a thorough search. When he opened the first drawer he was surprised how many memories Carlos had saved, there was a whole scrapbook and a journal looking to be years old. Both went into the backpack and he continued to the second drawer, there was nothing in there but some letters from Carlos' mother. Still, Kendall decided that he couldn't rule anything out and tried to fit them inside without bending them. The bottom drawer was the most interesting, there was a video camera, a gold ring, and their first two albums. After making a mental note to remember all of it, he put it all into the backpack and zipped it up. He checked the time on his watch, it had only been fifteen minutes since he'd left Carlos to play video games. Logan and James hadn't finished their packing yet, or maybe they had and they were just waiting in their room for seven like he was.

As he sat on the edge of his bed, there was nothing to do but think. He thought about his mom, how she'd worked so hard to provide for him and Katie after their dad had left. She was the best parent he could have asked for, it would crush her to see that her boys were gone. He thought about Katie, she was the most brilliant little girl he'd ever known and she was probably smarter than all of them except maybe Logan. Then there was all the friends he'd made here at the Palm Woods, Camille the brilliant actress, Lucy the sassy rocker, as snobby as they were he'd even miss the Jennifers. Jo would miss him, he hated leaving her without saying anything but he couldn't bring himself to break up with her before he disappeared. She'd probably go back to Jett, maybe now that the guy had mellowed a little more he'd be good for her. Gustavo would have to find another band, Kelly would miss them probably but he wasn't sure if Gustavo would. The minutes ticked by slowly as he sat and thought, this time where he had nothing to do dragged on and on. He'd always found time to be a cruel thing, the moments in life he enjoyed went by fast and the moments that he wished to be over never wanted to end. By the time the two hours had passed it felt like he'd been sitting there for days, he wished he had that long before he had to leave. Carlos was still playing video games and he was excited about it, his thumbs tapping away at the buttons as he blasted his enemies to pieces. No more stalling, he needed to leave now or it would be too late.

In the living room Carlos had just beaten the mission of his game when he heard the sound of his bedroom door closing. He turned and looked at Kendall, Kendall looked much more serious than he ever had before. In his hands were two backpacks, one looked like it belonged to him and the other to Carlos.

"Kendall what's wrong?" Carlos asked with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Carlos we need to get out of here now," Kendall informed him firmly.

"Why, what's going on?" Carlos inquired, feeling a mixture of confusion and fear. He'd never seen Kendall like this and it was scaring him.

"I just need you to listen to me," Kendall pressed. "You and I are going somewhere, so I just need you to trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Aren't people going to want to know where we're going?" Carlos asked. "Shouldn't we tell Katie or Momma Knight or Gustavo? What about Logan and James, are they coming too?"

"Carlos, I don't have time for these questions right now," Kendall stated irritably. When Carlos shrank he softened and continued, "I'm sorry for snapping, but it's really important that you do what I say right now. Logan and James are going to catch up with us later, but we need to go now."

"O-okay," Carlos agreed, without even turning off his video game he hurried over to Kendall and grabbed his backpack. When he put it on Kendall grabbed his arm gently and led him over to the door.

"Everything's going to be okay buddy, I promise," Kendall whispered to him, closing the door when they were both out. As they walked down the hall there was no one else around, it was late enough that everyone would be hanging out in their apartments. It was better that way, if people noticed the hurry they were in they'd be stopped and asked questions. Kendall didn't want any delays, they were so close to the car and he had no idea when Link was going to get here. He pulled Carlos into the elevator with him and pressed the button to take them both down to the lobby.

"No one knows where we're going, do they?" Carlos questioned softly.

"No, I'm not even quite sure where we're going," Kendall told him honestly.

"Are we in trouble?" the younger boy inquired.

"You could say that," Kendall answered cryptically.

"You're sure everything's going to be okay?" Carlos asked fearfully.

"That's what I promised," Kendall asserted comfortingly. "I've always taken care of you and that's not going to stop today. We'll be just fine as long as you stick close to me and listen to everything I say. I want you to promise me that, no matter what I tell you to do promise me you'll do it." Carlos nodded emphatically, he'd never known Kendall to let him down. He was scared, sure, but he knew that Kendall always knew what to do when they were in trouble.

The elevator doors opened at the lobby and the two stepped out, Kendall no longer needing to hold Carlos. He walked briskly forward toward the front door, knowing that their car would still be waiting for them when he got outside. The smaller boy followed him closely, not even two footsteps away from his older brother. Bitters wasn't even at the counter, he had to be occupied doing something else. It was eerily quiet, neither of the boys had ever liked when it was quiet. Finally they reached the front door, for paranoia's sake Kendall stuck his head out the door first and scanned around for any vehicle that wasn't there normally. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he pushed Carlos in front of him and the two sprinted for the car.

"Hurry, get in," he instructed Carlos, flinging the door open and climbing into the driver's seat. The BTR Mobile was still here for Logan and James, this was the car that Kendall had bought for taking Jo out when he turned seventeen. It was a red 2013 Cadillac, he had a radio, GPS, and a hands free device for his phone as well as plenty of room in the trunk for their backpacks. When they were both in he put the keys in the ignition and started the engine, breathing slightly easier at the familiar hum of the engine. He switched the gear to reverse and backed up onto the main road. Both he and Carlos took one last look at the famous Palm Woods hotel, he was going to really miss this place. His foot stomped on the gas pedal and drove off, hoping he would be able to hide better than had all the other targets before him.


	3. The Flash Drive

The bar was not as empty as it should've been this time at night, alcoholics drowned their troubles of the day with several shots of beer. The bald and witty bartender Marty was waiting at the door for the black minivan that pulled up at quarter to eight. Lori was managing the bar while he waited, she held her own against the drunk patrons. As he looked back at her one tried to touch her below the waist and she punched him in the mouth. Her neat black hair was tied back in a ponytail, she held the fiery defiance that one needed to work in a bar.

"Jared, I was wondering when you were going to show up," Marty called as the door to the minivan opened. A young man in his late twenties walked toward the bar, exhausted but still managing to force a smile. Jared ran a hand through his short brown hair tiredly, he hadn't wanted to spend his evening doing this. His eyes were a bright ocean blue, his physique was athletic and brawny. He was still wearing black slacks and a polo shirt from work, he'd just gotten off less than two hours ago.

"Thanks for not calling my parents on him," Jared said gratefully. "Where is he?"

"He's in the back, I got Lori to make sure he didn't get any more beer his way," Marty told him. "Sorry about that by the way, most of the waitresses didn't recognize him and I was in my office."

"Don't put this on yourself," Jared assured him. "Riley was going to come here tonight no matter what."

"Well come on in," Marty invited. "I'd invite you to have a drink, but I think your brother's done enough drinking for the both of you." Jared nodded and followed Marty into the bar, as he walked in he glanced at Lori and she smiled at him.

"Riley, what the hell are you doing?" he questioned as he strolled toward the back. A sixteen year old boy looked up at him, annoyed that he was here. Riley's hair was golden blonde, spiked up in front, and his expression was always withdrawn. In his hand was a tennis ball, his sky blue eyes watched it as he bounced it on the table and it came back into his hand. He hated his eyes, they looked so similar to Jared's and that irritated him.

"I suppose you think you're doing me a favor," the teenager stated coldly. "That's why they think you're so perfect, perfect role model Jared."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Jared asked. "I've never done anything to you, I've stuck up for you and kept Mom and Dad from finding out about your little drinking problem."

"I do not have a problem," Riley denied. "I never drink more than four beers, it's the law that has a problem with my drinking. And I don't want you to stick up for me, that just makes them love you even more. You've got such a perfect life, so don't try and condescend to me."

"I don't care how you feel about me, you're not staying here anymore," Jared told him. "Let's go, you're staying at my apartment for the night so Mom and Dad don't see you drunk."

"I am not that drunk," Riley insisted stubbornly. "I can still walk just fine." To prove his point he stood up in front of Jared, only to fall to his knees from dizziness. Jared rolled his eyes and put his arm around Riley's shoulder, as much as it bugged Riley he had no other choice but to let Jared help him to his feet. The two walked toward the front and Jared waved at Lori and Marty with his free hand.

"See you later Marty," Jared said casually, the bartender smirked and waved back at Jared. He managed to get Riley out of the bar and over to the minivan, Riley pushed Jared's hand off of him and climbed into the passenger seat by himself.

Once Jared had gotten in the minivan he started the vehicle and drove off, Riley had leaned his head against the window and was facing away from him. The sun had gone and the sky was now the blackish blue of night, the first stars were appearing in the sky and a sliver of moon was visible. Before long Riley had begun to drift off, Jared couldn't stop himself from continually peeking over at Riley.

Riley had never been able to get over the fact that he was adopted, maybe it was because Jared had always been the favorite or maybe it was because his parents had abandoned him when he was just a baby. Susan and Bill had gotten married at eighteen only a month after graduating high school, the consummation of their marriage had produced Jared as their first child. They'd been happy for thirteen years, but then his mom had started pushing for another kid. Unfortunately, the baby had died shortly after birth. It was then that they decided to adopt a child instead, and they'd been introduced to baby Riley. Jared had been very open to his new brother, taken care of him when his parents were at work and even cancelled a couple of dates to look after the baby. But once Riley had found out he was adopted that set him off, he never felt that they'd love him as much as they loved Jared and decided to stop trying. He began getting into trouble, ditching school and drinking whenever he felt the desire to do so. Their parents were starting to get fed up with him, Jared often had to come in the middle of an argument and defend Riley. This wasn't the first time he'd given refuge to his little brother in his apartment. Despite how much he looked after Riley, Riley seemed to hate him more the more he tried to help him.

As they pulled up to his apartment building, Riley woke up and started tossing the tennis ball back and forth between his hands. He'd had it his whole life, his parents had left it with him when they dropped him off at the orphanage. It was an obsession of his, he carried it with him wherever he went and would bounce it off whatever surface he could find. No one had ever told him why his parents had left him at the orphanage, maybe the lack of a reason was what really bothered him.

"You know where the guest bedroom is," Jared said as they walked in, he dropped his keys in a small bowl they kept by the front door. It was a nice enough apartment, he'd paid for half of it and his parents had loaned him the other half. He paid his rent with his job at the bank, he worked as a teller. There was his bedroom and a bedroom for guests, the kitchen was just to the right of the door and it led into the living room. A long hallway led to the two bedrooms as well as an office and a bathroom.

Riley silently went to go lay down in the guest bedroom and Jared sat on the couch in the living room. The couch was blue with two cushions, when he laid down his feet stuck out over the edge. He kicked off his shoes and turned on the TV, it was a fat backed TV that he'd gotten cheaply at a garage sale. A news report was on, they were talking about a woman that had died because of a fire.

"Sharon Rimes was found dead in her apartment this morning," the reporter recapped. Jared's eyes widened, he couldn't believe that Sharon was dead. He'd gone out with her for five months before she'd started acting weird and broken up with him, it seemed strange that shortly after she was dead. But it couldn't have been murder, as far as he knew Sharon had never made any enemies in her life. As he watched the reporter say that the fire had been blamed on faulty wiring, his cell phone began ringing. His dad was calling him, no doubt they wanted to know what had happened to Riley.

"Hey Dad, what's up?" he asked casually, careful to give nothing away.

"I know that Riley's at your apartment, don't play dumb with me," his dad informed him. "He's always with you when he's out this late, I don't care about that. I wanted to know if you heard about Sharon, because she's at the morgue now."

"Yeah, I'm just watching the report now," he replied. "They wanted you to do the autopsy?" His dad performed autopsies when the police wanted to be absolutely sure what the cause of death was or their families had the money to pay for one, clearly the cops weren't sure it wasn't foul play either.

"Yep, it's a shame that you two broke up," his father stated sadly. "But I wanted to tell you what I found, it's not something that a body is supposed to have."

"What do you mean, the report says she died in a fire," Jared said confusedly.

"I'm not so sure," Bill argued. "There are very few burns on her, but her neck appears to be broken. I suppose she could have inhaled smoke and passed out, maybe hit something and broken the spinal cord, but it was what I found in her stomach that has me convinced otherwise. She cut open her stomach some time before her death and stitched it back up, when it reopened the cut I found a flash drive inside."

"A flash drive?" Jared inquired in shock, wanting to make sure he had heard correctly.

"She was hiding this from someone, there's no other logical explanation," Bill insisted. "I think I'm going to keep this for tonight, I want to take a look at it before I hand it over to the police. You should come over tomorrow, we can take a look at this together."

"Yeah, I'm off tomorrow anyway," Jared agreed. "I'll look at it with you when I bring Riley back tomorrow morning. Make sure you hide that somewhere safe, something feels really weird about this."

"Will do, see you tomorrow," his dad told him, hanging up the phone. Jared put the phone back in his pocket and pondered what he'd just been told. Sharon could have been murdered, and there was a flash drive that seemed to be central to all of this? It might have something to do with why she'd been acting weird and broken up with him, she thought she was protecting him from something. He wished she was alive so she could explain this to him, he hoped his dad would hide it somewhere good so they could look at it tomorrow. Part of him was saying that it was a bad idea to go over there tomorrow, but he had to know for sure what was on that flash drive. Until then all he could do was wait, he turned the station to something less depressing and tried to push the bad thoughts out of his head.

Logan watched as the clock turned from 7:59 to 8:00, it was finally time for them to leave. James was in their room making sure that they had packed everything they would need for the trip to the cabin. He'd checked to make sure that no one was currently occupying the cabin, they'd be alone up there until Carlos was safe and they could meet Kendall. Fear was making his hands shake, he couldn't believe that they really had to run away. The bad feeling in his gut was still ever present, he wouldn't feel better until they had made it to the cabin and he'd locked all the doors.

"Ready to go?" James asked him, standing in the doorway of their room. He had a backpack for himself and Logan, Logan nodded and caught his backpack as James threw it to him.

"I wish we could have left earlier," he stated. "Waiting here for an hour freaked me out."

"We couldn't have gone at the same time," James told him. "Kendall needed time to get Carlos out of here, if we were all caught together Carlos would be assumed to be part of this. It's going to be fine, we're leaving now." The two strolled toward the front door and exited the apartment, James was about to close the door again but Logan reached out and stopped him.

"Leave the door open," Logan suggested. "That way they'll think someone broke in. It'll break Momma Knight's heart less than if she thinks we ran away." He pulled a paper clip from his pocket for good measure, bent one of the edges so it was sticking out as if to pick a lock, and dropped it on the floor next to the door.

"If you're done, let's go," James urged. Logan followed him toward the elevator, he couldn't help but look around every couple of seconds just to be absolutely certain they weren't being followed. His paranoia just happened, he'd been born with it and whenever things got stressful he'd just feel it no matter how much he tried to calm down.

They entered the elevator and a ding sounded as James pushed the button, the doors slid closed and the elevator groaned a little as it started going down. Cheesy elevator music played as they went down, it sounded like maybe Bach or Mozart. Logan's mind was racing even in these thirty seconds, he had no idea what James had deemed as necessary for their trip to the cabin.

"Hey, what did you pack in my backpack?" he asked James. James shrugged, clearly he hadn't thought much about packing.

"Clothes, your stethoscope and one of your doctor textbooks," James answered. "I don't remember what else, I pretty much just emptied your dresser into that backpack."

"I'll look at it when we get in the car," Logan stated. "The BTR Mobile is still going to be there, right?"

"Yeah, Kendall would've taken his car," James assured. "He always has a plan, he probably already thought of an escape plan for us before he left." Logan nodded, Kendall had always been one to think of everything. In some ways he was smarter than Logan, Logan could think of practical and logical solutions to their problems but outside of school and normal situations he was practically useless. Kendall was different though, he knew how to improvise better than anyone else Logan knew. He had no worries about their ability to get away, but he couldn't help but worry about Carlos being dragged into this despite their best efforts.

His thoughts were interrupted as the elevator doors opened at the lobby and the boys made as if to exit. Suddenly, they heard a cry of pain coming from Bitters' office and both froze at the same moment.

"Are you going to tell me where they are?" demanded a cold voice, it sent a shiver down Logan's spine. "Give me their apartment number and I'll let you live."

"It's 2J, 2J!" Bitters cried out pitifully. "Please don't kill me, I don't know what you want them for but I don't care. I don't know anything else, I swear!"

"Unfortunately for you, just by seeing me you already know too much," the cold voice stated mercilessly. Even in the elevator they heard the sound of a gun being loaded.

"You said I'd live if I gave you what you wanted," Bitters said weakly.

"I lied," the voice admitted, two shots were fired and then everything was quiet. James had to cover Logan's mouth to keep him from screaming, with his free hand he pushed the button to take them back up to their apartment.

"We're going to get out of here," James whispered to Logan, still covering his mouth. "There's a window in our apartment, we can jump into the pool like Carlos liked to do and run back to the car." The elevator doors started to close, but before they could the door to Bitters' office opened and someone stepped out. In that one second, Logan and James had one brief sighting, and they knew it was Link. The way Drew had described him matched, it couldn't be anyone else. The worst part was what else happened in that one second, Link heard the ding of the doors closing and saw the two boys inside the elevator escaping.

As the elevator ascended both boys wished it would go faster, as they progressed Link was no doubt climbing up the stairs. James finally took his hand away from Logan's mouth, Logan took a while to speak again as what he'd heard still shocked him. He was freaking out, he started hyperventilating and chewing on his lower lip.

"This is really bad, he'll probably be waiting for us when we get there," he said fearfully. "He's going to shoot us both, we're so dead."

"You're going to be okay, Logan," James promised, grabbing his friend by the shoulders. "I'll think of something, the elevator is closer to our apartment than the stairs. As soon as those doors open, run for the apartment." Again Logan nodded, James gave him a reassuring pat on the back and waited for the doors to open. With Kendall not here, someone needed to keep a calm head and James was ready to fill that position. In his head he was thinking about whether or not they would both have time to get out before Link would get in their apartment. Logan was definitely going before him, no matter what Logan was definitely going to make it out.

When the doors opened they sprinted for their apartment, James made sure that Logan was ahead of him the whole time. As they reached the door a gunshot went off just by them, James looked over his shoulder to see Link running toward them. Quickly he rushed inside and shut the door, locking it and looking around for some way to solve this.

"What are we going to do James?" Logan questioned, his genius brain too scrambled for him to think.

"Get over to the window, hurry," James ordered, pushing Logan to the window and opening it. "You have to jump, swim to the edge and get to the car." He took the keys out of his pocket and thrust it into Logan's hand. Logan looked at him in confusion, James was always insistent on driving the BTR Mobile.

"You're coming with me, right?" he asked, he didn't like the look of guilt that was on James' face.

"Not this time, Logie," James confessed. "I'm going to hold him off, I want you to get out of here while you can. Like Kendall said, nothing bad is going to happen to you, and I'm going to make sure of it."

"I'm not going to leave you James," Logan argued. "And don't try and call me Logie to convince me to do what you want."

"Bye Logie, tell Kendall and Carlos I love them," James stated, pushing Logan out the window and into the pool. Logan landed with a splash in the pool and came up gasping for air, his backpack was soaking wet but the contents inside would be fine.

"Carlos, how the hell do you do this all the time?" he inquired, spitting out water. He climbed out of the pool and looked back at the window, James was standing there and motioning for him to run.

"Go Logan!" James shouted. As he watched Logan the door behind him was broken open and he spun to see Link entering the apartment. He dove for the ground as Link shot at him three times, missing each one.

Outside beside the pool, Logan heard the gunshots and saw James dive for the ground, he didn't want to leave his best friend behind. He watched James run at Link and then he couldn't see him anymore. A final gunshot sounded and he heard a body hit the floor, then he couldn't hear anything. It couldn't be true, James couldn't be dead. Something in his brain forced him to run in that moment, he couldn't even feel himself moving but before he knew it he was in the parking lot. He jumped into the car and threw his backpack on the seat beside him, starting it and driving away. As he left tears started pouring from his eyes, James had just died protecting him. How was he going to tell Kendall, or Carlos, they'd hate him for the rest of his life. Right now he needed to find somewhere to go, the cabin was out of the question so he needed somewhere else to hide.

Logan couldn't know that the shot had fired into James' shoulder instead of anywhere where it could do lethal damage, he'd fallen back from the force of the blow. Link approached him with a smug smile, aiming the pistol directly at James' head.

"You think you scare me just because you have a gun?" James questioned defiantly. "Without that gun you're just another prick, go ahead and shoot me."

"Where's the flash drive?" Link demanded. "You sent it to Sharon Rimes, what did she do with it?"

"I'm not telling you anything," James stated. "You'll never find it."

"Oh we will, we always win," Link told him matter of factly. "I'd love to shoot you, but my employer has special plans for you and your friends. They'll probably get it worse for running away, they should have just accepted their fate like men." He turned a dial on his pistol and aimed at the chest of James, firing a dart into his target. James fought the effects for a moment before he lost consciousness. Link hated when he didn't get to kill them, but after J was finished with this one he'd wish he was dead anyway. Three others were still out there and he needed to find that flash drive, this mission was only partially completed. He hoisted James up and threw him over his shoulder, carrying him out of the apartment and down the stairs.

By the time he had gotten James into the trunk, it was half past eight and he needed to leave before anyone went to investigate the gunshots they'd heard. As he was about to drive away his cell phone beeped and he looked at the message.

I have some details you might be interested in. Sharon hid the flash drive in her stomach before she died, by the time we got to it some mortician had already taken it. I'm giving you his address, go find it and eliminate him before he becomes a problem. –J

Link swore and started the car, now on top of everything else he had another target to find. He had to make this quick, the longer he spent on this the more time the other three boys had to get away. But it was just an average citizen, he probably had no idea what he'd found in Sharon's body. Why did civilians have to be so stupid, they'd all live longer if they didn't get in over their heads. Tomorrow Big Time Rush would be reported missing, the man at the front counter would be examined, and yet another house would be filled with bodies. They'd made a big mistake stealing that flash drive, the Syndicate did not lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to anyone wanting to see what happened to Kendall and Carlos, I promise their story will be continued in the next update. Let me know what you thought about it.


	4. Drew's Plan

It was around midnight that Kendall began to feel fatigue, his eyes felt heavy and the road in front of him became blurry. A honk of a horn woke him up again and he realized he couldn't keep going tonight, it would be pretty pointless to run away just to do Link's job for him. If he remembered the area there was a motel around here somewhere, it wouldn't hurt to just stay there for one night. Maybe he could talk to Drew when they got there, since he still had no idea where it would be safe for them to hide.

Beside him in the passenger seat Carlos had already fallen asleep, his breathing was even and his mouth open just slightly. He'd asked questions for the first couple of minutes that Kendall drove and then he'd become silent. It was clear that he was scared, he had no idea where they were going or why. Kendall felt horrible for him, just a few hours ago he'd been playing video games like a regular kid should have and now they were both on the run from something that only Kendall knew.

He saw the motel a few minutes later and pulled up, after spending so much time at the Palm Woods he hated the idea of sleeping in a place like this. It was only two stories tall, looking rundown and ready to fall apart. In some areas the windows were broken, all around the building paint was chipped and fragments of wood were scattered all over the ground. For a moment he wondered if it would be safer just to risk driving all night, or even to just take on Link head on. But a small noise from Carlos in his sleep reminded him that he needed to stop before he drove off the road and killed them both.

Once he'd parked the car he reached over and gently shook Carlos awake, Carlos' eyes shot open and his breathing increased for a moment before he realized it was Kendall who'd woken him. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and watched Kendall get out of the car, it took him a second to realize that they were stopped at a motel.

"What are we doing here?" he asked groggily. Kendall didn't answer at first; he was deep in thought about something. After a minute he realized that Carlos had asked him a question.

"What did you say?" he asked back. Carlos looked concerned briefly, it usually wasn't good when Kendall zoned out about something.

"What are we doing here?" he repeated, sounding just as tired as the first time.

"We have to stop for the night, I almost drove off the road a couple of minutes ago," Kendall answered honestly. He hated telling Carlos about any moments when they'd been in danger, but he knew the threat of dying in a car accident would be enough to convince his brother to stay at the motel.

"I guess it would be better for us to stay here tonight," Carlos agreed, exiting the car as well. He followed Kendall to the front door and stayed no more than two steps away from Kendall the whole time; he didn't feel completely safe at this motel.

The clerk at the front counter was a middle aged woman, a bored redhead more interested in chewing on a piece of bubble gum than doing her job. She didn't even look up as the two boys walked up to her, her eyes were focused on the latest issue of People magazine. Even when Kendall rang the bell she only glanced at them once before returning to her magazine.

"Can I help you sir?" she questioned lazily. At least she didn't seem to care who they were, it would be hard to disappear if everywhere they went people were making a fuss about the members of Big Time Rush.

"Do you have any rooms available?" he inquired politely, not that she cared what tone he used. It was an obvious question as he could see all the keys hanging from a rack behind the front desk, only four rooms were currently occupied. She blindly reached for the rack and pulled off a random key, dropping it on the desk in front of Kendall.

"It costs sixty dollars to stay here tonight, would you like to pay cash or credit?" she asked. She spoke with a monotone; most likely she was just repeating what her boss had told her to ask all the customers. Kendall pulled out the necessary money and handed it to her, she said nothing else as she'd fulfilled her obligations and shut them out again. He grabbed the key and turned back around to Carlos.

"Let's go, buddy," he suggested. Their room was on the first floor so thankfully they didn't have to walk far; Carlos still looked like he was half asleep.

When he unlocked the door to their room he saw that it actually wasn't that bad at all, there were two beds freshly made with comfy covers and two pillows each. A small TV sat on a dresser across from the beds, between the beds was a single lamp. There were no rats or bugs fortunately, there was even a heater that could be used to warm the room. It would definitely do for tonight, tomorrow they'd leave again and hopefully they could make it out of California by the end of the day.

Before he could ask Carlos which bed he would prefer his little brother had plopped down face-first onto the pillow of the bed closer to the door. Kendall smirked and walked over to the other bed, taking off his shoes and laying down on the bed with a sigh of relief. Seeing Carlos with his legs hanging off and his shoes still on amused Kendall, but he knew that Carlos wouldn't be comfortable all night.

"Carlos, you sure you want to sleep with your shoes on?" he inquired humorously. Carlos absentmindedly kicked off his shoes and rolled over onto his back, dragging his legs onto the bed.

"Kendall, are we going to die?" he asked bluntly, surprising Kendall. The fear Carlos had shown when being woken up made more sense now, no doubt his mind was giving him the worst scenarios it could dream up.

"No, we're not going to die," he replied. "We're going to be just fine." Carlos stared at him long after he gave his answer, searching for a hint of lying. Kendall did mean it, he couldn't be sure that it was true but he meant it. Finally Carlos looked away again, soon after he had fallen asleep again and Kendall could relax a little.

The familiar beep of his phone sounded in his jeans pocket and he pulled it out, for the first time in his life he was hoping it was Drew. When he saw the familiar name he cheered on the inside, viewing the text that Drew had sent him.

Kendall, did you and the guys get out alright? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little worried. Let me know. –D

Kendall knew what he was doing, if he'd been killed and Link had picked up the phone Drew didn't want to give away his identity. Drew was clever if nothing else, the only person Kendall knew of who'd evaded the Syndicate for as long as he did. He needed to know where he could go to hide for a while, if Drew didn't know of anywhere then they were screwed.

I'm fine but I can't be sure about Logan and James. I had to take Carlos to safety before Link got there, they left about an hour after me. Listen, I need somewhere to hide until they stop looking for us. Please tell me you know somewhere we can go. –K

He waited, holding his breath and chewing on his lip nervously. It didn't take long for Drew to text back, but Kendall wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign.

I'm glad at least you're safe, glad that your friend's alright too. Here's the thing, I know of a place but I'm not sure how reliable it is. Last I heard there was an apartment building that was opened by one of the Syndicate survivors. Run by a guy named Nico, he used to look for any refugees on the run from the Syndicate and give them a place to stay. Whole families were there, little kids even, and Nico looked after all of them. But I haven't heard from him in months, I don't know if something happened or if anyone is even still living there. The news never reported anything about the building but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd covered all of it up. I'd love to give you another option but there really isn't one, if you're going in there you're going in blind. It's your call, just be careful. –D

Kendall didn't know if it was the right call, the only thing that gave them any edge over the Syndicate was when they knew exactly what they were going into. Going in blind seemed like a bad choice, but if it was the only one his alternative was driving around and staying in a different motel until he ran out of money and they were screwed. Not to mention the thought of hiding Carlos with a group of professionals was reassuring; his safety was the most important thing. He just had to be cautious, leave Carlos in the car in case something went wrong and go in alone. It was worth a shot, better to try the possibility of sanctuary than the certainty of depleting his money.

I'm going to risk it. Tell me where I have to go to find it. –K

The apartment building is in Seattle, 420 Maynard Avenue. It's called the Atlas Apartment Building. If he's there he'll ask you for a code phrase, you tell him the Atlas guided you there. Good luck, take a gun just in case. –D

Thanks, I'll keep it loaded. Keep an eye out for James and Logan. –K

I will, don't worry. Text me once you're at the apartment building, I had some friends there that I want you to look out for. –D

Kendall shut off his phone and let his head fall back onto the pillow, finally allowing his eyes to close. He'd done it somehow, he'd successfully left his old life behind and gotten out safely with Carlos. But he knew that escaping the first time was the easy part, it was staying hidden that would prove to be a challenge. He fell asleep with mixed feelings running through his mind, his journey had begun but it was nowhere near over.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who's reading this! The boys and Katie will be a major part of the story and a few of the other characters will have roles too.


End file.
